Features
Hats off
How Abe Miller got his employees to change by focusing on their behavior and not their feelings
By Mark Scott
Smart Business Cleveland | November 2008
Page 1 of 4
When Abe Miller looked around the shop
floor of Graffiti Inc., he knew something
had to change. Employees were sitting at
sewing stations making baseball caps and
were exhausted by day’s end. The manufacturing process itself was inefficient
and not as flexible as it should be.
Miller knew things could be better, but he
also knew that making changes wouldn’t
be easy.
Fixing the problem would involve the
installation of a modular sewing system
that would have employees standing
instead of sitting as they produced their
caps.
It would take a lot of effort on the part
of Miller, the 65-employee company’s
founder and co-owner, to get his employees to buy in to the new system.
“If you show them how it directly benefits them, then it’s going to work,”
Miller says. “If you have a plan that’s
only going to service the company and
not your employees, you better get
another one. You better make sure they
are going to make more money, work
less hours, and have a better life and a
stronger future. If you’re not selling it,
it’s not going to work. You have to be sincere, and it’s got to benefit everyone.”
Miller did some soul-searching on his
own and convinced himself that it was
the right thing to do. He gathered data
that showed bringing in the new system
would help his employees feel more
comfortable at work, even though they
would be standing instead of sitting.
And he found a way to change behaviors despite sour feelings, and in the
process, he positioned his company for
success in the future.
He did it all in the name of sales at the
$5 million company, which is the most
important function of just about any
business Miller can think of.
“Don’t do anything that doesn’t relate
to more sales,” Miller says. “I don’t care
how much equipment you have. You can
always get a machine. You can always
rent space. You can always buy whatever it is you need to buy. Try to get on the
phone and get an order when you need
an order. That’s the only thing that can shut you down.”
The key for any good leader seeking to
make a smooth change is to understand
the difference between changing peoples’
feelings and changing their behavior.
“Maybe their feelings are they don’t
want to do this new system and they are
never going to do it,” Miller says. “You’re
never going to change their feelings. But
we’re not just interested in their feelings.
What we really care about is their behavior. If you get them to do what you want,
you’ll eventually win their feelings over.”
